Vietnam to pump first Venezuela oil in 2012

Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and Venezuela National Oil Petroleum Company (PDVSA) have reached an agreement on measures to extract the first oil flow from Block Junin 2 in Venezuela in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The two sides agreed on tasks and funding for their joint venture Petromacareo in 2011-2012 to enable it conduct the assessment, development and installation of equipment, building of pipelines, and implementation of oil services for the Junin 2 project.

With a very large investment capital and scale, the Junin 2 project is seen as a motive force for the development of oil projects between Vietnam and Venezuela.

The oil output pumped from Block Junin 2 is expected to reach 10 million tonnes by 2016.

Apart from Junin 2, PetroVietnam and PDVSA are cooperating in several other projects, including a master study project for Maracaibo lake and an expansion and upgrade project for Dung Quat Oil Refinery.

During his working visit to Venezuela, PetroVietnam’s Chairman Dinh La Thang has gained Venezuelan Vice President cum Minister of Energy and Petroleum Rafael Ramirez Carreno’s commitments to simplifying administrative procedures and required processes while giving top priority to PetroVietnam’s service companies to engage in providing services related to the Junin 2 field project, said PetroVietnam.

Venezuela said it was ready to provide strategic reserves of crude oil and oil products for Vietnam in the long term.